July??? Ouch!!! Question- If there still is actually some fire ongoing (?), why can't they seal that area off, and pump it full of halon (or?), to smother it? It might be costly to accomplish. But can't be much moreso than the delays plus associated expenses.........? Boxcab E50
Jim .. I would guess he talked with Karla since she's the only woman employed there. I'll have to check out the AltamontPress. Boxcab .. As I understand the operation, Darrel and his other brother Darrel are running the contracting company making the 'repairs.' They are using a "small" loader (back-hoe type of vehicle) to go some 700 feet into the bore, scoop up a load of debris and then back out the 700 feet where the debris is dumped out onto the ground. A large loader then scoopes up that debris and dumps it into a gondola. The crew only works Monday - Friday, and they meet in Ashland or Hilt (depending what end of the bore they are working in). It takes them over an hour to get to the job site, and, of course, they have to quit early enough to get back by their 8 hour shift. It has been reported that smoke is still issuing from the tunnel, which suggests that the fire is still smouldering .. somewhere. I can't answer your question about sealing off the tunnel to inject Halon. It seems that anything that makes good sense to do ... this contractor goes south with it. After all .. it's only money.
Daryl and Daryl? As on the tv show? Oh no! If it's a low budget operation like that, they'll never get it done. I'd have thought there'd be a highly specialized contractor doing this work? Might as well get Red Green in there. Have him line the tunnel with duct tape!!! Boxcab E50
Flash!! CORP has fired Daryl & Daryl because they were only able to make about 8 feet of progress in one whole week. A new contractor has been hired that estimates the tunnel bore will be cleaned out within 5 weeks from this week. Then, the repairs to rails and ties will have to commence before trains traffic can be resumed. Any way you look at it .. it's going to be sometime in August, baring any unforseen problem(s). There appears to be more to this story than I am not at liberty to divulge at this time. Stay tuned
It's about time for a change! I'd love to hear more about this mess. If you can't tell it publicly, maybe a private showing some day? Boxcab E50
Bill- Any news on the new contractor? Did they get started as scheduled? Will their estimate hold up? Boxcab E50
Yes Boxcab .. the new contractor began work a week ago and estimated 5 weeks to complete the job. I have not heard anything else to expect that they are not on schedule.
